The invention concerns a device for the attachment of seats in passenger cabins in accordance with the preamble of claim 1, a seat track and a holding device for such a device, and also a method for the attachment of seats onto seat tracks.
Devices for the attachment of seats in aircraft cabins conventionally have seat tracks extending in longitudinal directions and holding devices guided in the seat tracks for the accommodation of the seats. Seat tracks of known art have a half-open and undercut profile, in which are designed latching sections directed inwards for purposes of positioning and fixing the holding devices. The seat tracks preferably consist of aluminium, or an aluminium alloy, and are provided with surface protection to avoid corrosion. However, as a result of the interior latching sections, or as a result of the interior castellated geometry of the seat tracks, damage regularly occurs to the surface protection, as a result of which the formation of corrosion is promoted. For purposes of avoiding corrosion it is recommended in the European patent EP 1 544 105 B1 that the seat tracks are manufactured from a composite material, wherein one section forming the head of the track and latching sections consists of titanium, and one section forming the foot of the track consists of an aluminium or magnesium alloy. While by virtue of the use of titanium in the region of the latching sections corrosion can indeed be reliably prevented, titanium is heavier and more expensive than aluminium. Moreover the installation of the seats and in particular the holding devices continues to be labour-intensive, since the holding devices, now as before, are threaded onto the seat track through the interior latching sections.
Seat tracks with exterior latching sections are, for example, shown in EP 0 926 632 B1. These seat tracks have in each case a longitudinal web with a head flange widened in the transverse direction for purposes of forming the exterior latching sections, as a result of which any threading of holding devices onto the seat track is fundamentally eliminated. What is disadvantageous, however, is the fact that the holding devices are in each case embodied from two separate halves to be connected with one another, between whose end holding sections the seat track in question and a runner-type seat frame section must in each case be simultaneously positioned in the installation procedure. An automatic mounting of the holding devices on the seat tracks is not possible.